Boston has issued nearly 8,800 tickets in snow emergencies

The heavy snows that have fallen on the Boston area this winter have been a pain in the back for a lot of snow shovelers. For thousands of Boston drivers, they’ve also been a pain in the wallet.

The city has issued 8,769 tickets for violating snow emergency parking bans, the Boston Transportation Department said today. Each ticket is for $45, meaning that people owe $394,605 in fines.

Cars that are ticketed can be towed, but only 457 have been towed so far, amounting to about 5 percent of violations, according to the department. Those towed are charged another $90.

During snow emergencies, parking is banned on declared major arteries; cars can remain on smaller roads if they don’t pose any hazards.

“It’s not what we want to do. It’s strictly a public safety issue,” said Transportation Department spokeswoman Tracey Ganiatsos.

Vehicle owners can appeal their tickets through the Office of the Parking Clerk, Ganiatsos said. She also added that the city has a program where residents can park for free or at a discount at several private facilities during a snow emergency.

The height of the tickets came during the snowfall over Jan. 26 and 27, when 2,337 citations were issued and 67 cars were towed.